van Rooij, Iris and Wright, Cory and Wareham, Todd (2012) Intractability and the use of heuristics in psychological explanations. Synthese.

Preview

PDF -Synthese_FINAL_paper_online_first.pdf - Published Version Download (169kB)

Abstract

Many cognitive scientists, having discovered that some computational-level characterization f of a cognitive capacity φ is intractable, invoke heuristics as algorithmic-level explanations of how cognizers compute f. We argue that such explanations are actually dysfunctional, and rebut five possible objections. We then propose computational-level theory revision as a principled and workable alternative.

---

Export/Citation:

EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL

Social Networking:

Share |

---

Item Type:	Published Article or Volume
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID van Rooij, Iris i.vanrooij@donders.ru.nl Wright, Cory cory.wright@zoho.com Wareham, Todd harold@mun.ca
Keywords:	psychological explanation, computational-level theory, computational complexity, intractability, heuristics, NP-hard, algorithm, approximation
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science Specific Sciences > Computation/Information General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Models and Idealization Specific Sciences > Psychology
Depositing User:	Dr. Cory Wright
Date Deposited:	05 Jul 2018 09:11
Last Modified:	05 Jul 2018 09:11
Item ID:	9184
Journal or Publication Title:	Synthese
Publisher:	Springer
Official URL:	http://www.springerlink.com/content/rv63w1335ut772...
DOI or Unique Handle:	10.1007/s11229-010-9847-7
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science Specific Sciences > Computation/Information General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Models and Idealization Specific Sciences > Psychology
Date:	2012
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/9184

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Altmetric.com

Actions (login required)

View Item